Sunday, March 20, 2005

The Anti-War Institution

So I marched yesterday, as I did last year, and the year before that. And I suppose I will next year, too, and the year to follow. By then, perhaps, we'll be exchanging greeting cards: Happy Anti-War Day to the World's Most Peaceful Dad!

If there ever was an anti-war movement, it's long gone. (Suicided?) What's taken its place is an institution of self-actualization. Ineffective as hell, except maybe for transitory catharsis, but at least its obligations are nominal: attend the annual hand-wringing parade, and you've paid the dues for another 12 months. Just enough commitment for the Not-Me Generation of Not in my name.

Since, for me, a fog of this can't be happening unreality still envelopes Cheney and Bush, I guess it's only fitting their opposition start reminding me of an old Star Trek episode. Specifically, "Return of the Archons": a puritanical sect is ruled by mind control, but on set days, at the stroke of the hour, control is removed for a mindless "festival" of drunken debauchery and violence. The next morning, again on the hour, control is restored. It's as though "festival" never happened.

Protesting the war isn't "mindless," unless it's nothing but an unconsidered reflex. But when it's institutional, it becomes another form of social control. It's a way to let the dissident faction "blow off steam." No harm done to the ruling interests, no change to government policy, and the protesters leave thinking they've made their "voices heard," even though nobody's listening.

Part of the problem, perhaps, is too many people are trying to fight parapolitics with politics. Even after Florida, the Supreme Court, Wellstone, Diebold and Ohio, they don't recognize that, so far as America is concerned, politics is finished. And parapolitical power nodes, which have come well out of the shadows since 2000, are neither accountable to voters, nor terribly responsive to chants of "Hey Hey! Ho Ho!"

So, instead of March 19, what am I suggesting? Since I'm a Canadian, feel free to file this under "Easy for him to say." But March 19 is a good place to start. And I'd also suggest March 20, and then the 21st, and the 22nd after that....

A march on Washington could be a million strong, but if everyone goes home at the end of the day, nothing changes. But if 1,000 camp on the Capitol grounds, and 10,000 join them the following night, nothing would be the same.

2480 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Okay, this is the third time in less than two hours that I've stumbled across some mention of "Archons", and it's starting to creep me out.

First, while driving home from a friend's house tonight, I tuned in to Art Bell's show (I know, I know), and he had a guest on talking about Archons as described in the Gnostic belief system being the rough equivalent to modern "greys".

Next, after getting home, I checked my e-mail and someone on the Pynchon reading-list posted a link to an essay about comic books (X-Men) and Gnosticism. In part, it discusses some four-color villains who go by the name of The Archons, and who have some traits in common with the trickster "false God" of 2nd century Christian Gnostic theology.

And now, this latest Rigorous Intuition post, discussing an alien race from Star Trek named the Archons. Three mentions in a couple hours, after no mentions I can remember over the span of at least a year.

I'm glad to finally get in to post a comment. The last two times I've tried with other topics I could not access this area.

Jeff, I wanted to go to the protest in Austin yesterday, but I had to work. We did pass by and wave, but it was the same old - same old protest with signs and colorful characters and the police there watching. I agree with you. It is but a shadow of the 60's peace movement. It is only a glimmer compared to the intensity of the civil rights movement.

I am afraid we haven't lost enough yet. "Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose." When we finally hit rock bottom, you may see the rekindling of spirit. Or not! One of our HIspanic friends said, years ago, that if the Republicans ever got into control they would turn the U.S. into Mexico. It looks like she was correct. It's happening. The recent vote against a raise in minimum wage is just one more indication. We are fast becoming a nation of the very rich and the massively poor.

Nothing will happen until the rednecks of American stop and wipe the cow poop out of their eyes and realize these snakes in power are truly evil. Then we will become a united front against this creeping, crawling, slobbering Evil.

Mary R.

Thanks Jeff, for your continuing wonderful essays. You are full of the spirit we all need to fight these monsters.

"The Archons of Athens were the supreme council of the Athenian Republic during the Classical Age. There were nine Archons, this list details the chief archon (and hence the constitutional Head-of-State of the Republic). His duties were to act as chief executive, chief justice..."

http://www.hostkingdom.net/Archons.html

“On account of the reality of the authorities, (inspired) by the spirit of the father of truth, the great apostle - referring to the "authorities of the darkness" - told us that "our contest is not against flesh and blood; rather, the authorities of the universe and the spirits of wickedness." I have sent this (to you) because you inquire about the reality of the authorities. Their chief is blind; because of his power and his ignorance and his arrogance he said, with his power, "It is I who am God; there is none apart from me." When he said this, he sinned against the entirety. And this speech got up to incorruptibility; then there was a voice that came forth from incorruptibility, saying, "You are mistaken, Samael" - which is, "god of the blind." His thoughts became blind.... “

http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/hypostas.html

"DeKorne seems torn between suggesting that entheogens serve as catalysts for "entities" in our own unconscious and an self-consciously gnostic interpretation in which there are indeed Powers -- Archons -- in the universe that only wish to exploit humankind. Comparing the speech of the famous Mazatec Indian shaman Mar’a Sabina, entheogen writer Terence McKenna, and some of the Nag Hammadi gnostic gospels, DeKorne notes, "The consistently overblown language broadcast through these [human] channels suggests the existence of incorporeal forces infesting human awareness which are primarily concerned with impressing us with their importance. . . . The gnostic Archons, then, are intelligences existing in the imaginal realm in Ôbodies' consisting of thought and feeling. . . . . They feed off of our allocation of energy to their dimension and compete with other Archons on other levels in the overall hierarchy for their nourishment."[12]

Anonymous One,go to Rense.com and check out The Corpse Of American Culture by John Kaminski.He hits it real close to the head of the nail.It has become impossible to break through the rabble,most see what is happening around them and turn way,hope is,it will go a way.It is said in the end of days,there will be ones who can see through the fog.Magick will soon come back,at least what we will percive as magick.The cosmic trickster will gather up his followers,and they will make this hell on earth,try to be strong,the battle for this planet is about to begin,later.

We spiral further away from the real. Religion busies itself far from the direct experience of grace. Our jobs support the unnecessary so that we can buy more of the irrelevant. Our best political acts are mere intermissions in a larger theater to which we pay exorbitant admission to a play that appalls us.

Hey people, don't go getting teary eyed over the anti-war movement in the 60's and 70's --- we were as ineffectual at stopping the war then as we are now. What stopped the war then was the courageous effort of the vietcong and north vietnamese. period.

Our best bet now for stopping this war lies with the "dead-enders and former Baathists" sacrificing themselves, day in and day out, to stop the empire, to inflict enough pain on the empire to prick the koolade bubble of illusion that the vast majority of americans live in.

Protest, chant, and feel good. Go to church,light a candle, and feel good. Get your arse hauled off to jail for 12 hours, and feel good. Sit in a circle, sing Gum-Bay-Ya, and feel good. The fucking reality of the matter is that war is stopped by another fucking war.

My husband and I went to the protest in San Francisco yesterday (details and photos at my own blog). I never know how much good marching, chanting, carrying signs does for the cause overall. Yes, it assuages my guilt about not doing something more concrete to effect change. I think it also shows people around the world that we aren't just a bunch of pro-war morons in the US.

I marched before the war, and the anniversary year after, but I did not this year. I would have LIKED to, but I have moved to a town where if you don't hang christmas lights all over your house at christmas, people talk. If you so much hint any foreign accent in your speech you are ostracized. I was intent on standing on the side of the road, all alone with my sign, but didnt feel like getting stoned (rocks, not the fun kind) that day.

I swear I could see legions of people carrying torches and banging down my door if I so much as said a bleep.

I support everyone who is doing this and Im with you all the way, I just couldnt do it this year. Im too fucking devasted. No one cares. Innocent people are being cut to ribbons and everyone wants to know who Paris Hilton is fucking.

Thank you for another wonderful article, Jeff. I am replying on the topic of Archon Synchronicities. Just two days ago I came upon a wonderful essayEssay:

ATTACK OF THE ARCHONS A Gnostic Astrologer Looks At Federal Terrorism. It was posted on the website Starpath Visions. My own anti war activism has been lately to speak up with others, and to dare to look like a tin foiler. I am finding that many 'ordinary' looking aquaintences feel great sympathy, and intuitive knowledge of certain truths, but have been feeling isolated and afraid to mention it to anyone.

Shep -- your 'church lady' comment. Too true! The MSM carefully choreographs its reportage to either draw/or deflect our attention from what is really important. Let's not allow them to succeed.

As for the thread, I agree there is an inherent problem with anniversary protests. What is that about? Protesting is a way of life - it has to be. I only wish I had the time, courage, and youth to be able do it again, as I did in the 60s and 70s.

As for whether protesting made a difference then, I know it did. At least, Nixon said it did, and I have no reason to doubt it.

I recall reading (I think it was John Dean who reported it) about how deeply unsettled Nixon was by the unrelenting war protests staged outside of the White House.

If the public stage, during Watergate, was as empty and well-controlled as it is now, it is unlikely that Nixon would have resigned over the affair. He would have been as immune to public critism as the sitting president.

My point is that noisy, public, and unrelenting protests do make a difference - if Nixon's reaction is a valid barometer. Since we have nothing close to unrelenting protests going on now, it's hard to speculate about the outcome.

For fun, however, let's imagine the 60s anti-war scenario now:

Hoards of protestors conduct daily marches at the WH. They won't go away. More and more keep showing up from all walks of life.

Imagine, further, a national press that is sympathetic to the cause and has reporters who do nothing but talk about the anti-war movement, and its latest agitators/martyrs.

Imagine, further still, an unregulated (by today's standards) television medium that broadcasts nightly war protests juxtaposed with graphic images of US soldiers being maimed and killed, at dinner time, no less.

Further, and finally, imagine a host of socially powerful cultural icons deploring the war in a very public way, some making careers of it.

Moreover, the most outspoken cultural icon just happen to be a member of the most famous rock band in history, and he has a lot of cultural capital to spend! He not only comes out against the war, and gets away with publically criticizing the president, he successfully fights extradition.

Hard to imagine? That is because everything has changed since 9/11. I know, I'm preaching to the choir.

Remember - it is all about who controls the conversation. And right now, it is them, with tacit consent from a country so shocked and awed by 9/11 that they will go along with anything. It's the Reichstag Fire all over again. For that matter, the PAT Act is the German Enabling Act.

The current, fascist political climate has effectively silenced the anti-war movement. Make no mistake, this happened because of hard lessons learned from the 60s and 70s anti-war movements; they will not be repeated.

Lesson #1 -- Control the press.

Lesson #2 -- Control the courts.

Lesson #3 -- Control the images.

With #3, I give due consideration to Susan Sontag's lifelong question about whether images of suffering and war tend to inure or incite people to violence. I would argue that the answer depends on the prevailing cultural winds. And winds change direction, people.

Jeff, keep up the good work. To those who comment: I love reading your thoughts; please keep them coming! We need to validate each other's respective POVs whenever possible. And we need to keep talking. Silence is death.

As much as I like this blog, there are also times when it can make me feel fairly helpless and hopeless, so it was a real treat to read Morgan's remarks.

I went to the "parade," as I was calling it, in San Francisco, and unfortunately Jeff nailed the pro forma aspect of it perfectly. It truly was The Usual Suspects, from the ILWU Drill Team to the ANSWER folk in their Palestinian drag.

Morgan put his finger on what we need to do, I think, which is to think about imagery. The pictures taken by soldiers in Abu Ghiraib were probably ten times more powerful than any hundreds of articles about Iraq and how the United States is the good/bad guy.

The nurses going after Schwarzenegger certainly have put some thought into it, and their guerilla theatre is actually having some effect. The triumphalism that the Austrian Movie Star was projecting is being tarnished every time they show up.

Still, they're going to be ignored by the mass media as much as possible, so I think that's where we all come in. A hive brain is coming into being right in front of us through the internet and that is very new.

Stop your whinin' and conjecturing everybody. get the images in the faces of everyone, it's easy. put out leaflets all over, it's easy. get in the way of the machine in some small way every day, it's fun. be creative. GET OFF YOUR ASS AND TAKE THE WORLD BACK, YOU"LL LOVE IT. see ya in the garden. love ya' bro'-poe

i agree with bin dare. whatever happened to 'bombard the headquarters'? the anti-war movement is emasculated and coopted because protesters are told that peace and love will overcome, and don't you dare do anything to provoke the police state's wrath. Funny how protest movement across the world can bring down governments--when people stand and take the blows, not even necessarily blow things up in retaliation. now, if someone talks about storming the barricades, they are looked at as some sort of an agent provocateur. it's a head game! damned if you do and damned if you don't. perhaps what is needed are the tactics of empire, used against empire. anonymous, random fear.

btw the 'rednecks' aren't going to wake up, and it isn't their problem--it's the rapture crowd and the SUV drivers. sounds like blaming the czars on the serfs for chrissake! until uptight and spoiled suburbanites and urbanites top calling impoverished white people 'rednecks' and 'white trash', ain't nothing going to change in this country.

War creates more violence? WW II: Germany and Japan. They were crushed and are now quite peaceful.

If you really like to twist your mind, take the idea that your opponents are telling the truth and are completely right about everything. What does the world look like from that point of view?

If you hold one opinion without considering the validity of other viewpoints and if you only discuss issues with people who agree with you, your ideas are based on blind faith, not truth, and your views are stagnant.

That's how I view people who believe they are right and everyone who disagrees is a fool deluded by a vast government/media conspiracy. If that's possible, isn't it just as likely they've been deluded by a anti-government conspiracy?

Keep your thoughts open.

Oh, and war? Is it the big guy wearing tattoos and leather or the inoffensive banker who's more likely to get mugged in a dark alley?

It is hard to be nuanced within the setting of a comments to a blog post.

Nonetheless, let me add this to my earlier comment and to many of yours: empire is confronted and stopped on the battlefield. period. But where it "feels the pain" most is not always obvious and usually not because of number of dead. Tom Reeves on CounterPunch the other day outlines the issues revolving around an upcoming draft --- the insurgents in Iraq don't need to defeat the US militarily as such (the guy with the big bombs always wins that one), they only to weaken its basis of support at home. To the extent that there is a role for the anti-war movement in the US, it is to accentuate this "american-centric" aspect of the war. Forget Iraqi deaths; is AMERICA feeling the pain?

oddly enough, i wrote a post yesterday about the EXACT SAME star trek episode, "return of the archons" and i hadn't check out this site in several days previous to that.

also, in reference to the art bell thing, the guy was john lash. ive actually been in contact with him on the subject of gnosticism recently. he runs a site called metahistory.org. the day before he was on the show, i invited him to do an interview or add content for some online paranormal/occult/gnostic radio show i'm planning. only later did i find out that he appeared on art bell and i completely missed it.